A Daily Writing Practice

Monday, April 29, 2013

That quote, as many of you know, is attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt. It has inspired me for decades. However, I was primed for it because The Little Engine That Could got under my skin in the first grade. Writers need to take hold of both of these fonts of wisdom. In my experience no endeavor produces performance anxiety like writing. They don't call it writer's block for nothing.

Recently, as I've posted, I ventured onto Kindle. I have published in the past, but always with the acknowledgement of a publisher or magazine editor. Kindle requires that you draw upon your own confidence, often lacking in writers, and just put yourself out there.

While my mantra is write every day, I don't necessarily advise people to pass their work around indiscriminately. If you show your work too soon to an audience or reader who does not understand the process, you may get criticism from inexperienced reviewers that hurt rather than help your motivation. However, when it is time to put it out there, go for it. Another homily I'm fond of--don't hide your light under a bushel.

Okay, easier for me to say, right? I'm already published. But let me tell you a story about my Arty book (http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Farty-Arty-Friends-ebook/dp/B00C8T769E), my first children's book. I've always backed away from children's fiction. Can't do it, can't relate to that type of storytelling I've always said. And illustrations? How do they happen? Do you say magic words over the page and the perfect picture appears? Because I certainly couldn't draw anything I'd want anyone to see.

Well all that changed when I decided to take the plunge with Arty. Miraculously, the story, and 12 others, tumbled out in a burst of steroid energy one night when I was being treated for a nasty ailment. All of a sudden, there was Arty on the page. That was my first surprise. But then the pictures had to accompany the story and I didn't know an illustrator. So I just started on my own. Truly, Eleanor's quote got me going. I had nothing to lose, really. If they didn't work, end of project. But I had a hurdle to overcome. When I was in grammar school and we had mandatory art classes on Monday mornings, the nuns hung my picture in front of the classroom with the work of the other talented students just once in eight years. One time. This experience, and probably some verbal backup as well, convinced me I couldn't draw.

In my thirties I took a self hypnosis class for writers to tap into creative depths. One of the exercises was to draw something in the room while under hypnosis. I drew my shoe. When we came back to a normal state, and I saw what I had drawn, I burst into tears. It looked like a photograph--well close. It certainly looked like a shoe, well drawn at that.

I realized I had believed my brainwashing, and that there probably were many hidden talents criticized out of me over the years.

At any rate, I never pursued drawing until Arty came along. Then I needed to produce something and just went for it. Arty went live three weeks ago and has now received 4 and 5 star reviews on Amazon. People are loving the story (funniest thing I've ever read say many of them). But the big surprise is that the drawings are a big hit.

Had I held back and decided I couldn't draw, AJ, a ten-year old in Australia, would not have written "One of the best books I've ever read."

Fortunately, I have reached an age when I listen more to myself than other people's opinions. I'd like to bestow this gift on all of you who doubt your writing. I've always said that it isn't up to us to judge whether our work is good or bad. Our job is to write and let our readers decide. Arty and AJ are a case in point.

Write every day for at least 15 minutes. And for the rest of the day, believe in yourself, no matter what some voice from the past is ranting on about.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

I do practice what I preach. I have been writing every day since my last blog post in January, I just haven't been blogging about it.

This is an "if I can do it, you can" post.

Since December, I have published seven ebooks on Kindle. I've sold about 1500 books, plus or minus and made a bit of money. By Amazon terms, they all hit the best seller lists.

But additional perks include finding myself in a wonderfully supportive community of writers-authors as Amazon calls us, or publishers, and seeing the tallies add up every day knowing there is some Amazon love for me.

I intend to write more about Kindle, about having my prejudices about self-publishing shot to pieces, about moving from the safe tried and true for me--cookbooks-to publishing fiction and my foray into writing and illustrating children's books. Writing the kids books has completely rejuvenated me, as well as astonished me. While I can usually put together a few sentences on almost anything, I never though I could write for children and have never been able to draw anything, ever.

If nothing else, Kindle has been a terrific restorative to my creative passions at a time when my physical abilities were at a low ebb. I started the first book six weeks after open heart surgery and have slogged through various illnesses since, the Kindle books giving me a new lease on life. I know that is a cliche, but it is true. So I will nudge you get your work out there, because (you know the drill) if I can do it, you can.

For tonight, it is late as I write this, I will post my books. But I will commence promoting Kindle/ebooks as another way to challenge yourselves as writers and enjoy the thrill of seeing your work in print. So here is my Kindle Bookshelf:

Welcome to the Daily Writing Coach.

The Daily Writing Coach, aka Helen Cassidy Page, agrees with J. Konrath, who says, there is a word for a writer who never gives up--published. The DWC also says that a daily (or at least consistent) writing practice is the yellow brick road to a completed manuscript, without which, you can't get published. The Daily Writing Coach gives aid and comfort to those who yearn to write but struggle to maintain a daily (or at least consistent) writing practice. Whether the task is learning craft or managing time, a daily writing practice to me is akin to a spiritual discipline, in the devotion is requires and the lessons it teaches. I hope you find something useful here, some encouragement or inspiration. Please leave your comments and let me know what helps you or gets in your way as you pursue this demanding, yet fulfilling, calling.

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I also offer Skype coaching as well as email and personal coaching. For those who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, please contact me about exploring sandtray coaching to further your creative process and deepen your self-knowledge.